Alfred Court

Alfred Court (January 1, 1883 – July 14, 1977) was a French acrobat, circus proprietor, and animal trainer. His act was a feature of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus during the 1940s.

Early life and education Alfred Court was born on January 1, 1883, in Marseille, France. He was born to an aristocratic French family.

Alfred's parents sent him to the Provence School ran by the Society of Jesus in Marseille. At fifteen, he ran away from the Jesuit school and joined a circus after being dragged home once before. At sixteen in 1899, Court and Alfred Lexton created the duo Lexton & Egelton, performing first at the Palais de la Jetée in Nice and then touring France and Italy with Circus Cristiani. The trio toured France and later the Americas with Ringling Brothers Circus and Circo Européo. With no one else available, Alfred was forced to step in, though his experience was limited to watching the act.

Alfred, accompanied by his wife Renée, went back to France in 1920. While touring North and South America from 1911 to 1920, Court saved more than 200,000 francs, then returned home to spend a season with Cirque Ancillotti-Plège. Court's most notable students included Frantz and Vojtek Trubka, Fritz Schultz, Vargas, Max Stolle, Wesely, Vaniek, Anton, Violette d'Argens, Patricia Bourne, Damoo Dhotre, and May Kovar.

Signing with Blackpool Tower Circus in England for 1937, Alfred Court delivered nearly 500 consecutive performances in 23 weeks without mishap.

For a short period, he formed Olympia Circus to tour France and Spain, but the venture was short-lived.

After his circus was shut down, he formed a group of fifteen big cats, including six spotted leopards, three black leopards, one snow leopard, one jaguar, and four pumas. He prepared an act to rent out as he toured Europe until the Second World War began. During the act, he carried a whip and a small stick, but no gun. He used the whip only to crack and signal where the animals should position themselves, with the lash and his voice guiding them.

For the 1940 season, the famous French circus act imported from abroad joined the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. When Court appeared with the Ringling-Barnum show in 1940, he brought together three mixed groups of wild animals. The acts took place simultaneously in three large steel-barred arenas. Court's act, unlike anything seen before in America, included Abyssinian lions, Bengal tigers, black and spotted leopards, black panthers, Siberian snow leopards, black jaguars, pumas, cougars, giant ocelots, Himalayan bears, Tibetan bears, Polar bears, and Great Danes. When Court was leading his leopards from the Rangers' dressing room to the arena, the Indian leopard attacked the snow leopard, sinking its jaws into its throat. The rehearsal was delayed for hours. The cages for Court's tigers, lions, leopards, and jaguars were already set up, but Fred Bradna, the equestrian director, refused to rehearse without Court's animals. Later, another leopard slipped out of its cage, causing a minor scare.

In February 1942, Court worked at Ringling's winter quarters in Sarasota, Florida, preparing a new cat act for the New York City opening. The show already featured leaping leopards, jaguars, and lions, but no tigers. Court trained his tigers to outleap the lions and leopards at 23 feet. Some of his new tigers—including giant Siberians—even walked tightropes: two parallel ropes stretched a foot apart across the arena. He trained the mixed group in under three months, debuting them in the center ring at Madison Square Garden in early April 1942. Ringling-Barnum featured the mixed cat act in its center ring for several seasons.

Alfred Court's act opened the Ringling-Barnum matinee on July 6, 1944, moments before the Hartford circus fire.

At the end of 1944, Court approached Robert Edward Ringling, then president of Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey Combined Shows Inc., to sell his animals. Ringling's agreement was conditional on Court training a new act for the 1945 season. Alfred Court created the act for Ringling, and it was performed in a single ring by William "Willie" Storey, Court's nephew and apprentice who went to America with him.

Court, after selling his animals to the Ringling show, lived part-time in France and part-time in Sarasota, Florida.

In the year of 1945, his company, Wild Animals, Inc., presented Joe Walsh with his mixed group of tigers and lions. The act was booked with the Hamid-Morton Circus for their winter, spring and fall dates. Court leased his act to Herman Bantly's All-American Shows in August 1945. In 1946, Alfred Court's Wild Animal Exhibition made an appearance at Saladin Temple's annual Shrine Circus in Grand Rapids.

Court, who had sold the big cats to Ringling-Barnum before returning to France, came back to Florida in 1950 when the circus sought to dispose of them. He promptly resold them to Cirque Amar and arranged for Damoo Dhotre to handle the act.

Legacy The Club du Cirque de France, headed by circus historian Henry Thétard, hosted Court as guest of honor at a dinner on June 22, 1942.

In 1975, Court was elected to the Circus Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Circus Ring of Fame in 2000.